Advocacy Blog

Arthritis Foundation Continues the Dialog on Capitol Hill to Remove Barriers to Care!

One week ago, the House Energy and Commerce Committee unanimously approved the bipartisan 21st Century Cures Act 51-0. The legislation will “help to modernize and personalize health care, encourage greater innovation, support research, and streamline the system to deliver better, faster cures to more patients.”

The Arthritis Foundation and its volunteers have been actively involved in pushing this legislation forward, sending letters to key parties and making visits to the Hill in support of the initiative.

The most recent version of the 21st Century Cures legislation includes three new provisions that are important to the Arthritis Foundation and the arthritis community, covering topics ranging from easing restrictions on off-label uses of drugs to including age groupings in research studies, along with a provision that addresses the extension of exclusivity periods, which is important to ensure even those with rare diseases gain access to top-notch treatments and care.

While the House Energy and Commerce Committee unanimously approved the 21st Century Cures Act, the next step is for the Committee and others to work to get the Act enacted into law in 2015. Meanwhile, our team is also working with the Senate on their version of the Act. And earlier this week, we received a special invitation to visit Capitol Hill to discuss the 21st Centuries Cures Act and additional opportunities to remove barriers to state of the art care. We will be on the Hill tomorrow to do so and will keep you posted as our work here unfolds!

Thank you to our advocates, ambassadors and volunteers for their continued support in helping increase awareness and action that directly benefits the arthritis community! We will keep fighting to improve access to care for the 50 million+ patients living with arthritis.